Bitter Love
by Ryuoujin
Summary: Twist to an overused cliché. Natsu and Lucy are already dating but what happens when Natsu finds himself contemplating a horrible scene! Rated M to be safe
1. Chapter 1

**A twist to a overused cliché, stories about NaLu not happening because Natsu choose Lisanna over Lucy, because he kicked Lucy out of Team Natsu, because he never returned her feelings, or something else similar. But we know that Lucy as stated in the manga is "something precious" to Natsu and that most of the time they're always together! He even refused to fight strong guys only to rescue her (I can spend all day saying why Natsu wouldn't break Lucy's heart, but that's not why you're here)**

**I condesed and expanded the two chapters into a single chapter. And I say as a HARDCORE NALU FAN that I am, I hate this story! But my fellow NaLu fans (not all of them) inspired me to make this. How? Find it out**

Chapter I

It was a beautiful day in Magnolia, while a Young Dragon Slayer and his blue exceed friend made it back to the Fairy Tail after a successful mission. It was hard to believe that he finished a mission without causing _much_ property damage like he always used to, so they got the full reward after Natsu defeated a group of ogres who were terrorizing a little town.

Now that he had the money, he'd help Lucy to pay her rent. They've been dating for a few months and since the beginning Natsu made the promise to always protect her, always make her smile and never leave her side. Although that's exactly what he always did even before they became official. He and Happy had to complete this mission by themselves because Lucy preferred to stay home

_Flashback_

"_Come on, Lucy! Why don't want to go with us?" Said a clearly dissapointed Natsu. Lucy just smiled and calmly responded "Look I need to do some housekeeping in my place and I want to finish the novel I've been working on. Besides, it will take you only a couple of days to hunt down those ogres, you won't need my help this time" _

_Both Natsu and Happy pouted. "But it will be boring without Lucy" said the blue exceed. Even though they kept trying to persuade her to go, they eventually gave up. Lucy promised Natsu she'll be waiting for his arrival and gave him a tender kiss before his departure_

_Flashback Ends_

Now that he returned earlier than anticipated, he thought to visit his girlfriend at her apartment, "she expects me to return tomorrow so I'll show up at her place and give her a surprise" he thought. So he left Happy with Wendy and Carla and rapidly made his way to Lucy's place.

As he neared her place, he felt a weird scent, a musky smell and something very familiar to him, Lucy sweat! He knew not only because his Dragon Slayers senses, also because he slept in her bed often, even more after Lucy became his girlfriend

When Natsu got to her room's window, he couldn't (nor wanted) to believe what he saw: Lucy was in her bed having sex with another guy! And Natsu knew the guy; it was none other than Gray Fullbuster. The sight teared him apart! Gray kept pounding Lucy and Lucy kept moaning obviously enjoying their intímate contact. Lucy moaned Gray name over and over while urging him to go faster.

Natsu slowly stepped in her bedroom and as soon as they bécame aware of his presence they both stopped. How did this happen!? His mind couldn't understand it!

Natsu stood there motionless, while Lucy was too shocked to speak. He could feel an unpleasant mix of anger and sadness. Anger because Gray his friend/rival and guildmate was stealing his girlfriend. Sadness because Lucy, the girl he loved so much, was sleeping with Gray

After a few moments of silence, Gray smiled smugly and asked Natsu "Wanna join?"

After hearing those words, Natsu snapped and punched Gray out the bed. "Natsu wait!" said an alarmed Lucy, but Natsu didn't listen and just kept beating Gray until knocking him out!

After that Natsu just sat in the floor, Lucy could see a single tear running down his cheek but she didn't dare to say anything. Natsu only stared at the floor, he couldn't face her, and how could he after what she did? None of them said a word and during several minutes there was an uncomfortable silence between them. The tension was extremely thick, the scenes Natsu witnessed keep replaying in his mind! The pain he was feeling now was something new, something foreign. He didn't fully understand it but he was sure he never felt so hurt. Lucy still hasn't spoken, but she could see Natsu was shaken by what he saw, so she had a faint idea of how deeply she hurt her boyfriend

A sudden groan broke the silence; Gray was finally regaining consciousness, when he saw Natsu was still there, he quickly grabbed his clothes and exited Lucy's apartment "I'll kick his ass tomorrow" Gray said to himself

Natsu finally stood up and went to the window, "Natsu I can explain it" said Lucy but that didn't stop Natsu from leaving. He never experienced a pain like this, he just wanted to get away from there, _from her_

The news about this incident spread fast in the Fairy Tail guild, many guild members shared a dim view of Lucy's doings

Lucy's friends were shocked and Juvia was literally crying a river while Mirajane did her best to comfort her friend "Why Gray-sama choose love rival over me!? Why!?" Juvia screamed as she kept crying. It would be an understatement to say she was heart-broken! Worst thing is Juvia and Gray had already went on at least two dates, so knowing of Lucy and Gray last night activities shattered the poor girl's hopes on Gray finally falling for her

Still, the most noticeable change in the guild was that Natsu and Gray fights escalated in both frequency and violence. It looked like they were trying to kill each other!

"You damn stripper why you had to steal Lucy from me!?" Exclaimed the Dragon Slayer as he threw another flaming fist

Gray barely dodged Natsu's attack; he took some distance and shot an ice arrow which Natsu easily dodged. "Maybe if you took a better care of your things, this would never happened Flame head!"

Gray words cut really deep into Natsu, but he still kept on fighting until Erza knocked them both into the ground! As they slowly got up Gray said "You're never do anything romantic for her, no wonder why she looked someone else to properly love her". Natsu felt rage at his statement, even though there was some thruth in it, he wasn't good at romance but he always did his best for Lucy. This time Natsu wondered if Gray was right and Lucy didn't want him anymore because of him being so dense in the love department

A few minutes after the fight ended and Erza went to the bar counter where the girls and a depressed Juvia are, Lucy was seen walking into the guild. She inmediatly headed to her friends in the guild. How will she explain herself? And how will the girls prevent Juvia from killing Lucy?

**I don't like GrayLu not one bit! Be sure this won't be GrayLu fic nor a GraNaLu one.**

**Next Chapter, Lucy's "excuse" (I'm already done with that) and more more reasons for Natsu to angst (still working on it). I beg you all, don't kill me!**

**Review please!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Sorry for taking so long in uploading this chapter. The little "engine" behind this fic feeds on pain, and I had to wait to gather enough pain to write this. I think I'll upload before New Year and there will be at least two more chapters**

**I thank you all for the reviews and I'm sorry to tell you guys but I doubt Lucy will pay, even though she's the cause of Natsu's pain.**

**Fairy Tail belongs to Mashima, who even though likes trolling, he's somehow a better NaLu supporter than many NaLu fans.**

Chapter II

As soon as Lucy got close to the bar counter, Juvia automatically changed from an emotional wreck to psychotic murderer! The Strauss sisters were doing their best to restrain Juvia and prevent her from drowning Lucy.

"You took Gray-sama from me!" Juvia screamed angrily while still sobbing. Lucy looked surprised only during a split of a second; she than sat up and completely ignored Juvia.

"Is it true?" Asked a still unsure Erza, she didn't believe Lucy would be capable of this, neither did Levy, Lucy's best friend. They wanted to hear it from Lucy directly; otherwise they'd be still  
skeptical about it

Lucy took a deep breath and said "It is"

Erza, Levy and even Cana looked surprised not only because of her answer, but the way she said it! She said it in such a calm tone, like it didn't even matter

Levy then asked Lucy, "Why Lu-chan? I thought you were happy with Natsu. Besides you already knew Gray and Juvia were dating! Why?" Levy hoped to hear that it was some kind of mistake, a moment of weakness, or something like that. She didn't want to believe that her dear friend would be capable of being deliberately evil. But Lucy's answer completely shattered her hopes

"Unlike Natsu, Gray is gentle and thoughtful; he also has a hot muscular body that no woman should be able to resist! I tried to give Natsu a chance to be more romantic but he's a dense idiot who can't understand the difference between being a good guildmate and being a good boyfriend! Besides Gray sure knows how to please a woman"

Levy and Erza were completely dumbfounded by Lucy's answer. Juvia was so shocked that as soon as she heard this she stopped struggling to break free from Mira and Lisanna grasp. Juvia thought for a moment how her love-rival mercilessly disregarded all the effort Natsu did for her; knowing the feeling of being betrayed she started to think how Lucy's reasons would affect the Dragon Slayer

Mirajane put her hand over her mouth and gasped. Lisanna was so surprised she couldn't speak; she couldn't believe she left her former crush's heart to such a mean person! Can spill her drink and stared at Lucy in disbelief. And Erza was now suppressing the urge to strike Lucy down after seeing how she toyed with her guildmates feelings for her own pleasure

"It's that why you did it with that stripper?"

All the women were startled to suddenly hear the young Dragon Slayer seemingly near broken voice; it seems Natsu had just overheard Lucy's answer. Juvia could probably understand how Natsu was feeling right now but even she could tell not everyone reacts the same way to pain.

Lucy turned to see how Natsu was holding back his tears. "I'm not good enough, eh?" Natsu questioned her. He felt like Lucy's words cutted him deep, so the anger he was feeling earlier when fighting Gray was replaced by a newfound feeling, a pain so foreign to him. Lucy betrayed him because he wasn't caring or romantic! But he always protected her, they always went together to missions, he always tried to make her laugh; he probably wasn't good at romance but still he tried his best for Lucy, he even offered uproot another rainbow sakura tree for her (she declined of course).

Despite the pain Lucy caused him, Natsu was not only willing to forgive her. He got close to Lucy and wrapped his precious scarf around Lucy; she was surprised by both his action and then his words "I might don't know much about romance, I might be a crappy boyfriend but I'll promise I'll do everything to make you smile" Lucy then hugged hard and said "I'm sorry Natsu! I won't ever try to do something like this again" Then Natsu lost balance and he felt to the ground with Lucy on top of him. Still he just smiled and said "You got heavier Luce" Lucy answered with a gentle slap "Idiot"

Levy was relieved her friend reverted back to her normal self and her relationship with Natsu survived this, but Erza didn't buy Lucy's sudden change of heart

As the couple left to choose a mission, Erza mentally said "I had a bad feeling about this". Later that night Juvia decided to break up with Gray; it was the most painful thing she has ever done but she reasoned if Gray neglected the guild's principles about friendship and family their relationship would simply not work. Both Erza and Lisanna complimented her for making such a mature decision

Two months later, the blooming season of Rainbow Sakura arrived and Magnolia celebrated the Hanami festival! Little knew Natsu about what he'll witness this day

**I know you might want to kill me because Lucy didn't suffer not one bit. If you want to see her suffer, I'm warning you now she probably won't! Too bad I can't say the same about Natsu**

**Besides my fellow NaLu fans inspired to do something even more dreadful. Just wait for the rest and please don't kill me!**


	3. Chapter 3

**I've never thought I'd get such negative reviews, I expected a lot of people to like this ^^; but I got to say I feel the same about this fic! I love NaLu; some of you might find it hard to believe but I'm being honest. And I hate this fic! My only reason for doing this is my source of inspiration TT_TT**

**I know that most of you see this as a GrayLu fic but it's not (In fact I don't like GrayLu one bit; Lucy's answer was actually inspired by two NaLu fans perception of Lucy's feelings for Gray). I can assure you that Gray will be nowhere to be seen in this chapter**

**How did I upload so fast? My fellow NaLu fans inspired me again! (Probably they're pretty good liars as some of you suggested, but they've been FT fans far longer than me and many of you) I wanted this fic to be short but it seems it will have two more chapters :( It hurts but is the only thing I can get from my fandom**

**For the record, this is my first fic, so OFC there will be OOCness (Lucy betraying Natsu and disregarding everything Natsu had for her, which NaLu fans inspired me to write). The ending I had planned is the only thing I like about this fic**

**I was listening to "TREACHERY" from Bleach's soundtracks while writing this**

Chapter III

A month had passed after the incident involving. Natsu and Lucy seemingly had been working on repairing the damaged trust during that time; even though they didn't show it, they weren't as close as they used to. That's exactly what they were trying to fix, most likely that's what Natsu was trying until another "incident" happened.

They were at the Hanami festival, a time and place that reminded of what Natsu did for a sick Lucy in the past. Uproot an entire Rainbow Sakura tree just for her to see! Even though Natsu was extremely dense at that time, he managed to pull a romantic gesture without knowing. Natsu probably didn't know about it, but this was the perfect time to strengthen his and Lucy's bond.

Unfortunately, Fate didn't feel generous that day. Lucy had made biscuits, pies and pancakes which her boyfriend and the some of their guildmates were clearly enjoying. Everything seemed to go fine for the couple until Natsu noticed Lucy suddenly disappeared from his sight. Natsu using his keen sense of smell begun to follow Lucy's scent, then his nose detected something that triggered a painful memory, the scent he smelled reminded him of the same day he caught Lucy and Gray having sex in Lucy's place. Fear started to slowly fill him as he was getting close to the source of the smell. He arrived to the place, the same tree he uprooted for Lucy (the same tree he was forced to replant), he felt a déjà-vu when he heard… moans! Lucy's moaning! He then saw as Lucy was leaning on the tree for support while someone was doing her from behind. Just like the last time he recognized the guy, but it wasn't the Ice mage, it was Laxus!

Even though, Laxus was enjoying what he and Lucy were doing, he quickly noticed Natsu's presence and as fast as he could he stopped and prepared to defend himself from the enraged Salamander.

The Fairy Tail members were already leaving when they heard the explosions coming from Natsu and Laxus fight. They could see thunder, fire and explosions destroying everything in their path. After the battle saying the forest was a mess was an understatement; the fight left more than a half of the area devastated, Laxus barely won but that didn't change the fact that Fairy Tail had a lot of damage to pay for! And Natsu's heart was once again broken

Since Lucy was close to the fight she suffered some of the "collateral damage" from the clash of the flame vs. lightning. As soon as she was tended by Wendy she left before anyone had the chance to ask the question that was running through everyone's mind: _Why?_

As soon as the subject about payment for the damage to the Rainbow Sakura trees was closed, Makarov went straight to Laxus and said "We need to speak… in private". Laxus just like most of the guild knew what this was about.

When they got in Makarov's room alone, there were a few minutes of silence. Laxus didn't wait for his grandfather to tell him how wrong his actions were, so he decided to speak first

"Lucy didn't come to me without any reason. It's neither her fault nor mine that Natsu neglected their relationship. He just overlooked Lucy's needs as a woman, that's why she came to me. Because I could give her what she'd never get from Natsu"

Makarov turned to look at Laxus and said "Are you truly that blind?"

"What do you mean?"

"Even after Lisanna's returns, Natsu never left Lucy's side and he was always protecting her just like he was doing from the beggining, he indeed would do anything to protect his guildmates but with Lucy is different, he was always close to her, always fights by her side, always cheer her up. Since the very moment he brought her to Fairy Tail they never separated from each other and when they became a team, they were the most compatible"

Laxus was surprised he overlooked all of this, but given he was expelled and only returned after the Tenrou Island attack, it was justified he wouldn't see how close were Natsu and Lucy

Makarov continued "A guild is a place you can call home and guildmates are the people you can see as your family. Your actions and Lucy's actually damage the trust and friendship that keeps us united, the bonds that make our guild strong"

Laxus was thinking about what Makarov just told him. But his decision on what to do next was already set on stone. So after a little while, he answered

"Even so, I'd always felt something for Lucy since Natsu brought her to the guild. I won't let go of the chance I now have to get her"

Makarov remained serious; but the truth is he was so disappointed that his grandson once again disregarded the meaning of being a Fairy Tail member. But Laxus was already a man; this was his choice so Makarov couldn't anything about it

Erza somehow wasn't surprised about these happenings but still felt sorry for her guildmate. Natsu was once again broken. How can they keep their relationship working after this!?

Levy went to Lucy's place to talk. But at the end she said the same about Natsu not being romantic at all and how Laxus can do what Natsu can't. Natsu and Lucy haven't said a word about it, they kept going to missions, and they kept having meals together! This time Natsu didn't show the pain he was feeling, his pride didn't allow him to cry over this! He loved Lucy but she was no longer loyal. He didn't know what to do now!

A few weeks later, Lucy decided to take the first step to rebuilding what they had lost. She told Natsu she'd clean his house and they'd have a private party there, at first Natsu didn't buy it but he gave Lucy another chance. Something that night he'd come to regret

When he and happy were done fishing, Happy went to spend the rest of the day with Carla while Natsu went to his house. He opened the door, and found himself watching another painful scene!

**Told you this wasn't a GrayLu! This is actually a genre I totally despite: "netorare"**

**Before you start to hire 8 superassasins (I've been playing Batman: Arkham Origins) to get me; I shall tell you the ending is this fic's only redeeming feature. So let me end this before you start looking for ways to kill me ^^**

**This time very few NaLu fans inspired me the LaLu piece but I borrowed Laxus character interpretation and NaLu's "flaws" from an actual LaLu writer (her fic actually hurt me beyond anything you can imagine!)**

**Next chapter, neither Laxus nor Gray will participate (much). Another Fairy Tail character will have the stage. Try to guess who he is**


End file.
